Commentary

The Prime Minister announced a number of changes last week to visitor visas for Chinese tourists designed to benefit the British economy.

Standard UK visitor visas for tourists from China will be valid for 2 years from January 2016 – 4 times the usual 6-month limit for a standard visitor visa. The cost is set to remain the same at £85.

Mr Cameron also announced that the Government is planning to ‘go further’ and introduce a 10 year multiple entry visa for Chinese tourists at no extra cost and extend mobile fingerprinting facilities from 9 to 50 cities in China.

Figures published by VisitBritain suggest that Chinese tourists currently contribute £500 million annually to the UK economy.